


Escape the Night: Mermaid Tails

by Dede42



Series: Escape the Night Season 1 [8]
Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: 1920s, Dark Fantasy, Dolls, Mermaids, Music, Novelization, Poison, Rhymes, Spirit Board, Swimming, dead bodies, dollhouse - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-06-29 01:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19820020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dede42/pseuds/Dede42
Summary: While Matt gives up, Joey, Dawn, and the others work on freeing the second owner, a woman that has been transformed into a mermaid, and all she wants to do is be reunited with her daughter. Can they help her without becoming fish food themselves?





	1. PROLOGUE: DANGEROUS WATERS

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> Yes, it's time for the next episode of the first season, and this time it'll be mermaids. Onward!

**PROLOGUE: DANGEROUS WATERS**

*****

It was a lovely day, but over at a certain house, the family there was having issues, particularly the parents.

The wife, Madison, did everything that she could to please her husband, but it didn’t seem to matter. No matter _what_ she did, he would _always_ find something wrong, and he get angry and hit her, but never when their daughter was in the room.

At least, that’s how it _used_ to be.

*****

Madison was pleading with her husband when he advanced toward her in the study and she was backing away from him as she pleaded with him. Shortly after coming home from work, he had discovered that she had accidentally ruined one of his good suits when she had been doing the laundry, and he was going to take it out on her… _again_.

“Please, Eric,” she pleaded when he grabbed her roughly by the arm. “Please don’t. I didn’t mean to – it was an accident. _Please!_ ” She cried out when he hit her across the face twice and then shoved her to the floor.

“You need to stop making me do that,” Eric said coldly, walking toward the table that the drinks were on while his wife got on her hands and knees, wiping the blood from her mouth.

He poured himself a brandy and took a gulp of the brown liquid that burned his throat as he looked out the window and then he looked over at her, seeing that she wasn’t looking at him.

“Hey!” he shouted, throwing the glass at her, and she yelped when it shattered on the floor. “Are you listening? This is _your_ fault. I hope our daughter has more sense than you.” And he walked out of the room.

Madison stared at the floor and the shattered glass shards. _‘Oh God,’_ she thought as his words sunk in. _‘Not our daughter! Please, don’t let him touch my baby!’_

She _had_ to do something to protect her daughter to keep her husband from doing the same _horrible_ things to her. But _how_ could she protect her own daughter when she couldn’t even protect herself?

_`“I will give you the strength to kill him,”`_ said an eerie child-like voice coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, making Madison look around in confusion. _`“But first, you must let me_ change _you.”`_

*****

That night, Madison made her way bare-footed to the pool, the house’s promise echoing in her mind as she sat next to the edge of the pool, staring at the water.

_‘If I let it change me,’_ she thought, _‘then I can protect my daughter from Eric.’_ She started reaching for the water when her daughter walked up, holding her favorite doll.

“Are you coming, Mommy?” her daughter asked.

Madison looked up at her daughter and smiled at her. “I’ll be in a moment, dear,” she promised, hugging herself since it was cold by the water. When her daughter nodded and walked away, she looked back at the pool, the house’s promise echoing through her mind once again, and she came to a decision.

She stood up, removed her dress so that the cold air was touching her bare skin, and she dove into the water just as her drunk husband came up the path.

As she swam through the water, Madison felt herself transform with her legs’ merging into a tail with glistering blue scales.

*****

When Eric reached the pool, he only found his wife’s dress on the ground. “Stop playing games, Madison!” he called out, looking for his wife while clutching a half-filled glass in one hand. He’d been drinking _a lot_ , so his eyesight was blurry.

Madison raised her head out of the water and she now had a Joker-like smile on her face. When she saw her husband, she swam toward him, no longer afraid, instead she felt strong, and there was a craving inside her.

“Get out of the pool!” Eric shouted, glaring at his wife as she swam toward him, and he was _so_ drunk that he couldn’t see that there was something different about her, something _deadly_.

Suddenly, Madison launched herself out of the pool and she sank her fangs into his neck, making her husband cry out as she dragged into the depths of the pool, soon to be one of _many_ men that she would end up killing and feeding on during the years to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Darn that Evil for taking advantage of Madison's desire to protect her daughter. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	2. CHAPTER ONE: THE SECOND OWNER PART ONE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> Yup, I'm back with the first chapter of this episode, and now it's time to see how our favorite YouTubers are doing. Plus see how much of a jerk Matt is going to be acting, too. Onward!

**CHAPTER ONE: THE SECOND OWNER PART ONE**

*****

After doing the ritual and having it fail on them on an epic level, the group learned that the evil of the house, which was a demon, drew its’ strength from the five original owners, and they found one of them, a Catholic Priest named David Santos, in the basement. In order to restore his faith, they had to obtain holy water and a rosary in order to perform an exorcism.

Despite being terrorized by demons, the group had managed to find both the rosary and the holy water, plus a note that made it clear that they would need to vote for two people to go into the challenge, and perform the exorcism needed in order to find the priest’s cross and restore his faith.

Matt had offered to do the exorcism, but tried to back out when his friends agreed with him instead of trying to talk him out of it.

It came down to Matt and Sierra to perform the exorcism, which was successful, but it came at a cost: because Matt hadn’t read the final step the whole way through, Sierra had ended up dying.

The good news was that they were able to help David, who in return, gave them a notebook that had information he’d gathered about the four remaining owners. The bad news was that Matt had decided that they were all going to die, and had had basically checked out.

*****

Now the group was in the library with the notebook, and Matt was sitting on the piano bench with Tim, who’d had to drag him out of the living room earlier.

“Do you not see a pattern here?” Matt asked, refusing to shut up about how he was certain that they were all going to die. “Do you guys get where I'm coming from?”

“Okay, but we can't just, like, _give up!_ ”Joey protested. "Otherwise, we're as good as dead!”

Matt just shook his head and leaned against the piano. “I just don't see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

“Oh for the _love_ of Moby Dick,” Dawn groaned. “ _Enough_ out of you already.”

Joey picked up the priest’s journal. “Well,” he said defiantly, “why don't we just try finding the next owner so that we can free it and get on with our lives?"

"Yeah," Eva agreed.

Joey opened the book to a page that had a drawing of a mermaid on it, and he began reading. “‘Madison developed a taste for men, and soon the pool was filled with her victims. In time, her conscience began to whisper, and the guilt weakened her. The house moved on to another owner, keeping her trapped in the house’.” He glanced at the drawing. “She must’ve been transformed into a mermaid.”

“Well, that’s definitely different,” Dawn remarked.

Joey nodded and resumed reading. “‘The key to her room rests on the first floor and can only be found by breaking open the world’.”

“The world!” Eva exclaimed, pointing to the nearby globe, and she hurried over to it, punching it out of its frame as the others joined her, all except Matt, who was choosing to hang back, having given up.

Joey picked the globe up and carried over to the table, where he raised it over his head. “Think I should break it?” he asked and they all cheered him on. Nodding, he threw it at the table, where it bounced and landed on the floor. “ _Seriously?_ ”

Oli snatched the globe up and set it on the floor before him, having the desire to smash something once again after all they’ve been going through. _‘I hate this house! I_ hate _this house – Oli SMASH!’_ And he busted the globe in two with a well-placed stomp. However, when he picked up the pieces, there was nothing there.

“There's nothing _in_ it?” Eva asked, disappointed.

“Okay, that's not the world,” Joey said, sighing.

“Great,” Dawn grumbled. “Any other worlds out there?”

Lele found a globe. “I found another one,” she announced. “Can I break it?” she asked and they encouraged her to do so. She lifted the globe and threw it at the edge of the table, splitting the globe into two pieces. Unfortunately, there was nothing in that globe either.

Oli picked up the journal and flipped it to the mermaid page. “We’re doing this wrong,” he fretted. “The key to the room is on the _first_ floor.”

“This _is_ the first floor,” Joey reminded him.

Oli shook his head. “This is the _ground_ floor.”

“Oli, we’re not in England,” Dawn reminded him, rolling her eyes. “In America, the ground floor _is_ the first floor. We’re on the right floor, and we just need to find the right world to split in two to find the key.”

“Stop talking crazy English talk!” Tim complained while Matt mumbled something about “other rooms”, and they all left the library to search for more worlds in order to find the key so that they could find the next owner. “Poppycock.”

This was going to take a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, Matt has definitely gone bye-bye, and finding that key isn't going to be easy, that's for sure.
> 
> I will see you guys tomorrow with the next chapter. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	3. CHAPTER TWO: THE SECOND OWNER PART TWO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> Man, that third episode of season 4 was intense! And that's all I will say in case you all haven't seen it yet, and I'm not the type to do major spoilers. Anyway, the search for the key to find the second owner continues. Onward!

**CHAPTER TWO: THE SECOND OWNER PART TWO**

*****

Five minutes later found the group still searching, and in that time both Joey and Dawn had found two more worlds, which they took some grim pleasure in smashing open, but they still hadn’t found the blasted key!

Tim was getting a bit antsy about the damage they were doing and how it was probably ticking off the demon. “We just made that demon _extra_ angry," he remarked as Joey threw a ruined map, which he’d ripped out of a frame moments ago, aside. "We broke some, like, _really_ nice globes."

"There's _so_ many," Joey moaned, wondering why there were so many freaking maps and globes scattered around the first floor.

"There's so many worlds!" Eva complained.

“The spirit's gonna be _pissed_ ,” Tim added.

“Well, let it be pissed then,” Dawn grumbled. “I rather tear this whole place down then do what a stupid demon wants.”

_‘I don’t blame you at all, sister,’_ Tim thought, deciding not to worry about how angry they were making the demon and turned his attention to Matt instead.

Ever since the exorcism and the death of Sierra, Matt had pretty much given up on them getting out of the house alive, wouldn’t shut up about how they were all going to die, and he was being _very_ unhelpful with the search for the right globe.

Wondering where his depressed friend had gotten to, Tim went in search of him, and found Matt wandering around the living room, muttering to himself about them all dying, and randomly opening cabinet doors – and just _happen_ to pull out a gold statuette with-

“Is that?” Tim rushed over to Matt, who was looking at him questioning, and they both looked at the statuette, which was of a guy with bulging biceps, holding up what appears to be the world. “Guys, over here,” he called out and they all came running in as he examined the gold ball on top. “I think this might be-” he twisted the top and it came right off to reveal that there was a key inside.

“Oh!” said Tim, picking up the key, and Matt at the same time, grinning at each other while their friends all cheered. He tossed the key to Joey and as they hurried for the stairs to up to the second floor, he lagged behind a bit to give Matt a _serious_ pep talk.

“Hey,” he said to his friend. “Lighten up, will you?"

"Tim-"

"I know. It sucks,” Tim interrupted him and continued. “We've all lost people. And it gets kinda depressing after a while. But you _can't_ shut down on us. Not now. We need you."

Matt shook his head. "It's no use, Tim. This house…I'm doomed. We all are. I know you're still trying to find a bright side, because you're Tim and that's what you do, but maybe it would be better if we just…y'know…let go."

"Don't talk like that, you psychopath!" Eva shouted from upstairs.

“She’s right,” Tim agreed, fixing Matt with a stern look. “Stop talkin’ like that, get your head out of the ground, and be _helpful_.”

*****

Reaching the second floor once again, Joey tried the key on the first door that they found, and it opened for them. They entered a bedroom that was filled with steam coming from the direction of the open bathroom.

“It's foggy," Tim complained, trying to shoo the mist away from his eyes.

They cautiously entered the bathroom, hearing a hissing noise coming from the shower stall, and when they moved to where they could see inside, they all ended up jumping backwards and screaming once again.

Chained to the inside of the stall was the _creepiest_ mermaid that any of them had ever seen outside of movies and TV shows. She had the traditional mermaid tail, although there were black patches of where some of the scales had clearly fallen off, her long black hair was damp and stringy, her mouth looked like it’d been sliced open Joker-styled, revealing her shark-like teeth, her skin was ghostly white, and she didn’t have _any_ clothes on at all so they could see the gills on her chest.

Tim wouldn’t admit it to the others, but seeing the mermaid had him both scared _and_ turned on at the same time.

“Please _help me!_ ” Madison the Mermaid pleaded, she spoke with a lisp because of her shark-like teeth, but it was still possible to make out what she was saying, and she shook the chains that held her bound. “The house…it lied to me…it said I would be free…but now I am in chains…I hated my husband…I killed him…it's true…”

_‘This damn house lies to everyone,’_ Joey thought, but he didn’t voice that thought since it was clear to him that they needed to help Madison, even at the risk of her ripping their throats out with her sharp teeth if they got too close. “What happened to you?” he asked.

“He was a very, _very_ bad man!” Madison wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks. “But the worst part is…I lost my daughter _too!_ ” she sobbed and looked at them pleadingly. "And the only way I can be with her again is if I find her favorite doll, and then I make things right with those I have killed. You…you…" She pointed at the group and her finger trembled. "Can you help me do those things?”

Lele shook her head, not wanting _anything_ to do with the mermaid. “No. There's a reason why you're there.”

“Wait, hold on,” said Joey and the group looked at him, including Madison. “You're one of the previous owners, right?"

"Yes," Madison whispered. "I am…please help me…I will tell you how to go about it…please…get the doll…"

"How do we know we can trust you?" Oli asked, wanting to know for sure.

“You can look at me,” Madison said, shaking the chains again. “You…you can trust me."

"You don't look very trustworthy," Matt remarked.

“Be quiet, Matt,” Dawn ordered and looked back at the mermaid. “Madison, we will help you, but you’ll need to tell us how we can find that doll.”

Madison was relieved to hear that the group would help her and she knew _exactly_ what they needed to do.

“Listen to me,” she explained. “I wrote the names of the men I murdered in my diary on the counter. Those names…they need to be measured by the letter in coin.” She waited until Lele snatched up the red book she’d pointed to that had a pentagram on the cover. “My husband…" She giggled. "My husband kept his stash of golden coins in the dining room. There must be enough to pay for them! All you need to do is…you have to retrieve three bodies of the innocent men…they are chained to the bottom of the pool…but the pool is guarded by my wicked sisters, and anyone…any one of you who dares to enter that pool will be _torn_ into shreds!" She chuckled again, almost as if she found the idea of people being torn apart by evil mermaids funny. “But they _can_ be lured away by a very special song,” she added.

Joey bit his bottom lip, hoping that they wouldn’t end up regretting helping her. “What do we have to do?” he asked.

“You have to find it,” Madison answered. “And after that, you _will_ be shown where to find the doll!”

“Ok,” Oli said. “Guys. We need to go.” And they hurried out of the room.

_‘Please be successful,’_ Madison thought, watching them go with the longing of being able to go with them. _‘Please help me reunite with my daughter.’_

*****

The group hurried down the stairs so that they could get to work on finding the coins and get the doll for Madison in order to free her from the evil of the house.

“I don't know why we're doing this," Matt commented.

"Of _course_ you don't," Eva snorted.

"Shut up!" Joey snapped, not in the mood for arguing anymore. He was going to get them out of that damn house even if it meant killing himself in the process, and he hoped that it didn’t come to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As scary-looking as Madison is, I really do feel sorry for her, and even I wanted to help her when I realized just how bad off she really was after being tricked by the Evil. I will see you all on Saturday with the next chapter. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	4. CHAPTER THREE: FIND THE COINS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> Yes, I am updating today since I really want to, and after working with my client, I need to do this to decompress.
> 
> Time to find the coins to help Madison. Onward!

**CHAPTER THREE: FIND THE COINS**

*****

Arriving back downstairs, they hurried into the hidden dining room, which no longer smelled nasty, and Oli spotted a chest at the back of the room that hadn’t been there before. “A chest!” he exclaimed, hurrying over to it with Eva, Dawn, Benny, and Joey. “There’s a lock on it,” he informed them, seeing that it was _another_ combination lock. “We need three numbers.”

Matt, who was hanging near the door, found something on the nearby table. “There's a symbol over here," he mumbled. "It's a…tab card counter?”

Dawn went over and nudged him aside so she could pick it up. “It’s a coin counter,” she said, setting it on the table and handed the note attached to it to Eva. “We can use this to weigh the coins once we find them.”

Eva read the note. “‘The weight of sin will open the door to a song’.”

“Sixty-nine pounds?” Tim joked.

Eva ignored him, thinking back to what the mermaid had told them. “Didn't she say that we need the weight of the coins?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with the weight of sin?" Joey wondered.

"Just keep looking," Eva suggested, putting the note down on the table. "It should be here somewhere.”

They kept searching, which was hampered by Matt being _very_ unhelpful, except when he perked up when Joey suggested that the weight of sin could be alcohol. “Yes! Alcohol is a sin!”

Eva pointed to where there were bottles and glasses set up on a tray. “There's alcohol over there."

"You think we're supposed to weigh _that?_ ” Oli asked incredulously.

“Only one way to find out,” Dawn said, grabbing one of the bottles and carried it over to the coin counter, handing it to Joey.

Joey put it on the plate and got a number. "Try six-twenty," he ordered Oli and Eva, who scrambled to insert the combination.

Matt, meanwhile, forced a smile. _‘It's almost over,’_ he thought. _‘Live or die, tonight is almost over.’_

Eva tried the numbers and nothing happen, and Oli shook his head. "It's not six-twenty."

The group scattered, looking for sins, and Matt took the opportunity to pour himself a drink. No one noticed. He downed it in one go. The alcohol seared his throat, but otherwise did nothing to change his mood.

*****

After having another drink, Matt wandered out of the dining room and found Sarah in the hallway while the others were still searching for the sin that would give them the number for the combination lock. “Sarah,” he said and the maid looked at him. “Do you know anything about the weight of sin? Sinning in this house? Sin at all?”

When Sarah shook her head, he sighed and went back into the dining room, where Joey was jokingly suggesting that they should put Lele on it, and she swatted his arm in response saying that she wasn’t a sin.

_‘Matter of opinion,’_ Matt thought, but he didn’t say anything since it was all pointless as far as he was concerned.

“Guys, we’re getting no where,” Dawn pointed out, “and while I would never _ever_ suggest this, _maybe_ we should talk to the spirit board and see if it can give us a clue of where to find the weight of sin. It should be back to full strength by now.”

It’d been a while since any of them had even thoughtabout the spirit board that they could use as a lifeline, and they went back into the library, where Lele and Joey positioned themselves next to it while the others kept their distance, still not trusting the darn thing.

Joey read the invocation and hesitated when it came to the question that needed to be asked. “Greetings, spirits. Speak to us." He gulped and looked at his friends before looking back at the spirit board. "Okay. Give us…um…"

"A sign," Lele interjected. "Where it could be."

"Where is the weight of sin?” Joey finally asked.

One after another, the letters F, L, O, O, and R light up on the board before it went dark again.

“Floor,” said Lele. “We need to check the floor of the dining room.”

They hurried back into the dining room and began searching the floor for loose boards or something that an object could be hidden under. Eva noticed a grated vent, finding that she could remove it, she did so, and when she reached into the vent, she found a wooden box. “I got something.”

“Omigod,” said Joey as they gathered around Eva when she set the box on the table.

“Wow,” said Matt in a flat voice. “The floor.”

Eva ignored him and opened the box, finding a bag inside. She took it out and opened it to reveal that it was filled with gold coins.

“We got the gold!” Oli cheered and the others agreed, well all except for Matt since he was in full doom and gloom mode.

_‘Thanks, board,’_ Joey thought. “Awesome. Let's put it on the scale.”

Tim set the whole bag on the scale and read the number. “Three thirty-four,” he reported and looked up as Joey put the number into the combination lock, but it still wouldn’t open. “Damn.”

“Wait,” said Oli, trying to recall what the mermaid had told them. “What did she say? She said something else.”

Arthur, who’d been waiting this whole time, spoke up. “I think it was 'measured by the letter in coin’.”

“The letter in coin?” Tim repeated, confused since it didn’t make sense.

Joey picked up the red book and flipped through it. “Maybe it has something to do with the three names that she's…" he winced "…killed.”

Dawn peered over his shoulder as he found two pages filled with the names of the men that Madison had killed, and three of them were circled. “Darren Swenson, Michael Harrison, and Steven Wellington,” she read, “and they’re all circled. It must have something to do with their names.”

“I'm not gonna lie to you guys," Matt said, sighing. "I'm a little burned out after I killed Sierra, so my brain isn't…you know…”

Tim rolled his eyes and focused on the three names until something clicked in his mind. “The letter in coin…count the letters in the names.”

Oli counted the letters in the three names. “Forty-three.”

“Ok,” said Tim, positive that he was right about how to get the right weight. “So let's put forty-three coins in the bag and weigh that."

"I don't think we _have_ forty-three coins," Eva said, shaking her head.

"Just try it!” Tim insisted.

Dawn counted out forty-three gold coins, put them in the bag, and then she set them on the scale. “Joey, try two hundred and sixty.”

Joey put 260 into the combination lock and it opened. “It worked!” he exclaimed and looked at Tim, impressed. “How did you _do_ that?” And Tim just grinned.

Lele took out both a record, which she handed to Joey, and a note that she read to them. “‘Play this record to lure the mermaids out of the water. Once they've come to the source of the song, you must find a way to keep them there’.”

They all exchanged uneasy looks. This wasn’t going to be easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite Matt being the most unless person in the world, they managed to find the coins and a record. But how are they going to lure the mermaids away? You'll just have to wait until Monday to find out. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	5. CHAPTER FOUR: SWIMMING PART ONE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> Just to let you all know, I will be going on vacation this weekend, but I will be posting here as I enjoy keeping stories going. And speaking of stories, time to see where our favorite YouTubers are going to lure the mermaids now that they have the record. Onward!

**CHAPTER FOUR: SWIMMING PART ONE**

*****

Although not sure of what they would find at the pool, which Dawn and Joey knew for a fact _hadn’t_ been filled with mermaids or dead bodies the last time they’d been out there and being chased around by the Guardian, they headed out to check on it before looking for something to play the record on.

However, when they drew closer to the pool, sure enough there were two mermaids, each with the same pale skin, misshapen breasts, and swollen lips that Madison had. And, just like Madison, they were _terrifying._

"Omigod!"

The mermaids hissed at the group, their twisted mouths turned up into furious snarls.

"Augh!" Tim screamed.

"Bloody hell…" Oli muttered.

“They're prettier than the girl from upstairs," Lele commented.

Dawn stared at her. “Seriously? You call _those_ pretty? The _Little Mermaid_ is pretty. They’re monsters!”

"Listen," Joey said, keeping his composure, but only just barely. "Split up. Look for a record player out here.”

*****

Recalling the giant golden gramophone that was back in the ballroom, Oli hurried back into the house to get it, and the others joined him. “Wherever this plays," he informed them after picking it up, "that's where the mermaids are going to be attracted to."

"Not inside the house," Joey insisted. "I don't want them in here."

“There’s too many ways they could get out if they’re inside the house,” Dawn agreed.

Tim nodded. "Yeah. They're going to get, like, wet all over the carpet. It's a really nice carpet.”

_‘Where else can we put this so that the mermaids will be trapped?’_ Oli wondered and then he remembered the pool house, which could be locked from the outside. “I’ve got it. I know what we have to do.”

*****

Oli carried the record player outside and over to the pool house with the others following him. Once they were inside, he set it on the floor, and Joey put the record on it before flipping the switch to turn it on.

Soon, a haunting tune begins to echo its way into their ears, making them all woozy until Eva spoke, breaking through the haze clouding their minds.

“Guys. Come on. We gotta go.”

Returning to reality, the group hurried out of the pool house, almost running over each other in the rush, even Matt, and once they were back outside, they duck behind the pool house to wait for the arrival of the mermaids while doing their best to ignore the haunting tune in order to not fall into a trance again.

It wasn’t long before the two mermaids exited the pool, their tails becoming scale-covered legs, and they walked toward the pool house, entranced by the music the same way that the group had been moments ago, and they slowly made their way across the pavement. Once they were inside and staring at the record player, the group snuck over to the door, which Joey grabbed and pulled shut, locking it.

The moment this happened, the mermaids came out of their trance and they flung themselves at the door, trying to smash it down, and they were hissing and screaming at the same time.

The group screamed and sprinted for the pool, not wanting to be _anywhere_ near the pool house if the mermaids managed to get out.

*****

Oli skidded to a stop short of the edge of the pool and the others joined him, out of breath from having to run so much, and some of them were certain that when this long night was over, they weren’t going to need to go to the gym for a while.

“All right,” he said, cringing at the sight of the three half-rotten bodies that were chained to the bottom of the pool, which had ceramic turtles circling the edge with water spouting out of their mouths. “We, um, we have the three dead bodies in here, so, uh, who's going in?"

"Guys," Eva said in a voice that was almost hoarse. "The mermaids are coming, so…hurry.”

“I’ll go in,” Lele volunteered. “I’m a good swimmer.”

Matt sneered at her. “All right, Lele. I like that. You get in the pool.”

“You _know_ you wanna see me,” Lele said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. _‘Now he’s a pervert.’_

“I’ll go in, too,” Dawn said, not admitting that she wasn’t looking forward to touching dead bodies, but it needed to be done. “One person can’t do it on their own.”

“I’ll help,” said Benny.

“I’ll go, too,” Joey agreed. “The four of us can get it done faster.”

The four of them began to undress as Arthur and Sarah arrived, neatly folding the clothing, and they also happen to have a small pile of towels with them, almost as if they had expected this to happen.

Dawn and Lele did their best to ignoring Matt as he leered at them and made comments that would’ve had Dawn’s Southern grandmother rising out of the grave to smack him with help from her Southern grandfather, too. Heck, even her Southern great-grandmother would be helping to smack him with her cane. Soon, they were only wearing their under garments while Joey and Benny still had on their shirts, but they were unbuttoned, and their clothes were gathered and neatly folded by the butler and the maid.

Joey turned to the others, doing his best to ignored the continued banging coming from the pool house. “Lele, Benny, Dawn, and I are gonna jump in, and we're gonna bring the bodies up to you guys,” he stated. “You guys gather them together and start looking in their pockets. The mermaid said there's something in them. Okay? They have secrets of their own.”

“Ok,” Oli agreed.

Turning to the pool, the quartet held hands, and they leapt into the pool together, gasping at the icy water, but they began swimming to the bodies and both Lele and Dawn started working on removing the chains from the first body after Oli tossed them all goggles so that they could see under the water with the reminder of not to drown.

*****

Joey and Benny swam to the second body and went to work on removing the chains from it, too. It was hard work for all four of them, especially since they had to resurface from time to time to breath in lungfuls of cold air before going back under the water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Swimming for dead bodies. Yuck! Anyway, next update will be sometime tomorrow since I'll be busy with work at the movie theater on Wednesday and Thursday. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	6. CHAPTER FIVE: SWIMMING PART TWO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> Yes, I am updating today and it's time to see how it is going in the swimming pool. Onward!

**CHAPTER FIVE: SWIMMING PART TWO**

*****

By the time that Lele and Dawn removed the last chain from the first body, their muscles were screaming, but they kicked off the bottom of the pool to resurface, lunging the body with them, and they swam for the steps, where the others were waiting to collect the body from them.

“Great job," Matt said, smiling. "I love it, Lele, Dawn. Let's get him out.” And while he, Oli, Tim, and Eva helped lift the first corpse out, Lele and Dawn dove back into the water to retrieve the third body.

*****

Meanwhile, their friends were searching the clothing of the first corpse for anything that could help them find the doll that belonged to Madison’s daughter, and Oli eventually did find something that was probably going to help them. “Wait, there’s something in this guy’s pocket.” And he pulled out a pocket watch.

Matt went back to watching the others in the pool. “You guys are doing great!" Then, to Tim, "Lele's really stepping up."

"I know," Tim said with a smirk. "She's killing the game right now."

Matt bit his lip. "I'm not gonna lie…y'know…I was a little worried about her earlier tonight, but…She's kind of proving me wrong.”

_‘And you’re only realizing that_ now _?’_ Tim thought and shook his head.

*****

In the pool, Joey and Benny were still struggling with the chains and hearing Eva call out about the mermaids trying to break out of the pool house wasn’t helping matters. Plus the cold water was making it hard for them, too, but they finally managed to free the second body and they swam back to the steps with it in tow.

Once the others had it, both Joey and Benny dove back into the icy water and swam over to where Lele and Dawn were still struggling to remove the chains from the last body. Working together, the four of them _finally_ managed to get the chains off, and they swam the body back to the steps.

“We did it,” Joey gasped as the body was dragged out and they climbed onto the steps with Dawn sitting down on them.

“Joey, Lele, Dawn, Benny, while you guys were in the pool,” Matt said, “we found something in the first body you brought us.”

Joey was about to ask what it was they found when Eva pointed to the pool, having spotted something else under the water that hadn’t been see before because of the dead bodies.

“Guys, it looks like there's something at the end of the pool. Do you see it?”

The quartet looked and sure enough, there was something black and shiny lurking at the bottom of the pool. Dawn stood as they exchanged looks, and then they all dove back into the water, despite being exhausted and sore, and they swam over to the object, which turned out to be a chest that was chained to a weight.

Working together, they managed to remove the chain and lifted the chest up so that they could carry it back. When they resurfaced, Tim was asking what it was that they had found.

“There's a chest!" Joey gasped. "But it's locked!"

Eva shrugged. "We'll figure it out.”

“Bring it over here,” Oli requested and the quartet hauled the chest over to the steps, where he helped lift it out of the water, and there was a combination lock on it.

He found a note on the back and he read it while Arthur and Sarah gave Joey, Dawn, Lele, and Benny the towels to wrap themselves in with both girls sitting on the steps above the waterline with exhausted expressions, and that wasn’t too surprising, given how much swimming they had done. “‘The moon commands the water and tells it what direction to flow from new moon to full moon’.”

While Matt began rambling about gravitational pull and stuff like that, Joey picked up the pocket watch and began fiddling with its various knobs. “So we need to twist it until it gets to the full moon?" he wondered. "Does it switch behind?”

“Maybe we add up the time it takes to go from the crescent moon to the full moon,” Matt suggested.

"Which is what?" Tim asked.

"Uh…" Matt shrugged. "Like I said, astrophysics is complicated. Probably a little bit over your head.”

“Tim, could you _please_ shove Matt into the water so that the cold can snap him out of jerk mode?” Dawn requested, annoyed, and Lele snickered, almost hoping that Tim would do just that. “Please, just shove him in.”

Tim thought about the request, then he shrugged and shoved Matt into the water, earning a protesting yelp from him. “Ok.” And Lele cheered.

Joey also ignored Matt, who was struggling to get out of the pool and eventually did, still fiddling with the pocket watch. “Something past one?" he muttered. "Ten past one?”

Oli looked at the edge of the pool, wondering if they had missed something. “Is there something we're missing?"

"It has something to do with the water," Joey insisted.

And then, as if someone flipped a switch in her brain, Eva understood. "The turtles. Check the turtles.”

Oli checked the nearest turtle and found a black circle on it that he was _certain_ hadn’t been there before. “There's a black circle here on the turtle!”

“Yeah,” said Eva, “that was never there before.”

Both Oli and Tim checked the other turtles and on each of them were circles that were either solid white, or a mixture of black and white. “There's another moon here, another moon there, another moon there, another moon there, and another moon there.”

“We gotta count them up,” Matt suggested, partly sarcastically as he used a towel to dry himself off. “What kinds of moons are they?”

Oli, however, noticed that there were small turtles of varying numbers among the bigger turtles. “There are two little turtles here, and there are three little turtles there.” He and Tim quickly counted the small turtles and came up with the numbers.

Joey put the numbers into the combination lock and opened it. “It worked!”

“Whoever figured that out," Matt remarked, "you guys are very smart people. I appreciate every single one of you." He put an arm around Oli's shoulder, and then tried to put the other arm around Eva's, but she squirmed away. "Listen. I checked out. I killed Sierra. It's over. We're all going to die.”

“ _Who says that?!_ ” Eva shrieked and it really looked like she was going to haul off and hit him, especially if he kept talking like they were all going to die.

Joey opened the chest and found a tablet in it, which he took out, and he read what was written on it. “‘The doll dwells inside a wicked little house, which waits in the north corner on the third floor. Two guests, selected by vote, must place this tablet on the mantle outside the room and the door will be opened in a moment, but what lies inside will haunt them forever…’”

“Not _another_ vote,” Tim groaned, and they were all thinking the same thing…well, most of them.

“The voting just never ends,” Benny grumbled.

“Yeah…see…" Matt said sarcastically. "Let's take a vote…”

Eva fixed him with a look. “Yeah," she snarled. "Let's _definitely_ take a vote, because I know _exactly_ who I'm voting for."

"It's about time,” Lele said with a smug smile.

Eva jabbed a finger at Matt. "It's time for Matt to go!"

Matt frowned. "This just seems a little irrational-"

"No!"

"Who votes Matt?"

Eva, Lele, Oli, Dawn, Benny, and Joey raised their hands. Tim kept his hand down at first, but a well-timed swat from Lele sent it scrambling into the air as well.

"We didn't even _vote!_ ” Matt protested.

“Matt!” Eva snapped. “You made it very clear that you wanted to die earlier today!”

"But I still get a vote, though," Matt insisted. "I still get a vote."

"Okay, let him do his job," Tim suggested, wanting to get this over with.

Oli grabbed the tablet. "We need to take this with us."

But Eva wasn’t listening. She stormed off, a scowl on her face, red-hot fury tightening its grip around her heart. "I hope it's Matt and Matt that gets pulled!" she shouted over her shoulder.

"Wow." Matt shook his head. "That's a little aggressive, don't you think?”

The others just shook their heads and followed after her, and Matt followed after them, still shaking his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, having to get dead bodies out of that swimming pool wasn't fun, and now they have to vote…again. It really does seem like the voting never ends.
> 
> Given that I have work back-to-back tomorrow and Thursday, I'm going to do my best to update on Friday, even if it's later in the day then normal. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	7. CHAPTER SIX: VOTING TIME…AGAIN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> Yes, I am back and I am updating with a new chapter. It had been REALLY busy week for me with cleaning stuff, trying and failing to donate blood, and back-to-back work days at the movie theater. Man, I am looking forward to my vacation that will start after I attend a team meeting at the movie theater and I do my hours with my client, who also has Autism.
> 
> Anyway, enough about real life, it's time for the group to vote…again, and things aren't looking too good for Matt since he seems to be stuck in jerk mode. Onward!

**CHAPTER SIX: VOTING TIME…AGAIN**

*****

The group returned to the living room, where Joey, Dawn, and Lele sat down on the small couch, Eva sat in one of the chairs, Oli and Benny sat on the couch with their backs to the fireplace, and both Matt and Tim sat on the other couch, but Tim was making a point of not sitting too close to Matt, partly because he was still wet.

“Well,” Joey remarked. “That got interesting out there."

“It certainly did,” Dawn agreed.

"Yeah," Matt said with a defensive shrug. "You guys are just a little too turned up here."

“Turned up?" Eva growled, her eyes were narrow with rage. "Is that the correct _word_ for right now? Do we wanna party with DJ Snake right now?" She stood up, her face purple with rage, and her hands were curled into fists. “ _I don't think so._ ”

"I don't have to say anything," Lele pointed out. "She's saying it all for me.”

_‘And Eva is getting ready to Hulk out,’_ Benny thought, glad that he wasn’t the target of her rage.

“You stand to the side," Eva continued, doing just that, "and say ‘I'm gonna let you guys take care of this one’." She then sat back down. "So let's take care of _you_.”

"That was a good impression," Tim admitted.

Matt scowled at them and shook his head. “You guys _suck_.”

“Let's put it to a vote," Arthur said from behind the table, holding up a pen. "It's time.”

“I vote that they _all_ suck,” Matt grumbled.

Arthur raised his eyebrows and held out the pen. “Matt. It's your turn. Go first.”

Sighing, Matt got up and went to the table, where he took the pen from the butler, and he wrote down a name, tossing it into the hat. He then sat back down, not really paying attention as the others took their turns at voting.

Once the voting was done, Arthur picked up the hat, giving it a shake, and then he chose the first name. “Matt.”

“Of course it is,” Lele scoffed.

Arthur selected another paper and read the name. “And the second name is… Tim.”

Tim blinked while Lele cheered. “Me?”

Matt shook his head. “I was not expecting that.”

“Let's get this done, man,” Oli suggested.

“And we might not die,” Tim pointed out.

"Nah," Lele said flippantly. "You guys are going to die."

“ _He's_ gonna die," Eva snarled, pointing at Matt. "If he comes back alive…" Her voice dropped several octaves. "If he come back alive, we're gonna kill him.”

*****

Tim and Matt followed Arthur up the stairs, this time they were going up to the third floor, where they hadn’t been to before, and Tim was passing the time by telling jokes. Matt didn’t care, but he didn’t stop his friend from telling the jokes either, and he didn’t say any until they finally reached the third floor for the first time.

“They hate me.”

“No, they don't,” Tim protested, although he knew that _certain_ people weren’t too happy with his friend. "They're stressed, that's all. It's been a rough night. They'll-”

“Don’t lie to me, Tim,” Matt interrupted. “They want me gone. Lele. Eva. All of them. They hate me, they're out to get me, and I don't care anymore.”

Tim sighed as Arthur directed them to the north corner of the house, where there was a closed door and an empty mantle was waiting for them. “Just focus on the challenge, okay?” he suggested, holding up the tablet. “We got this.” He sighed again when his friend shook his head.

Rolling his eyes, Tim slid the tablet onto the mantle, and the door swings open to reveal…dolls. Lots and _lots_ of dolls, piled up on two identical couches, staring at Tim and Matt like they were fresh meat.

"Omigod," Matt moaned. "Dude…I don't like dolls.”

Normally, Tim didn’t mind dolls, but _these_ dolls were seriously _creeping_ him out – some were disfigured, some had burnt faces, a few of them were covered in what looked suspiciously like blood, and one in particular looked like a ghoul. Tim didn’t know what he was expecting, but this sure as hell wasn’t it.

Also, there were two dollhouses set up in the middle of the room, each with a book next to it, and there was a table smack dab in between said dollhouses. On the table were two glasses of red wine, an hourglass, and a note.

“‘Both of you take a drink if you want to know more’,” Tim and Matt read together and they exchanged uneasy looks. “Um…”

Reluctantly they both picked up the glasses and Tim made the mistake of sniffing his, and made a face. “Ugh. What is it?”

“Is it _blood?"_ Matt wondered with a cringe, and then he clinked his glass against Tim's. "Cheers."

"Let's do this."

They hooked arms, as if to protect each other from whatever might be in there, and drank. Tim downed his in one go, but Matt only managed to empty a quarter of his glass.

“All the way, bro."

"No-" Matt coughed. "It's just-"

“All the _way!_ ”

"It says take a drink! I took a drink!"

Tim shrugged and they both put the glasses down. "Okay, fine." The words were barely out of his mouth before another note appeared from under the door. "Oh! A note!"

"I wanna read it, I wanna read it," Matt said, running around the dollhouses to pick it up and Tim joined him as he read it. “‘You just drank poison’.”

“ _Seriously?!_ ” Tim asked, annoyed as he slammed his hand on the table that the nearest dollhouse was sitting on. “Seriously, we just drank _poison?!_ ”

“‘Sorry about that, but it was quite funny from where I'm standing’,” Matt continued reading, and felt like kicking himself for drinking the red liquid, too. “‘There is only one portion of the antidote, and the only way to retrieve it is to search your side of the room for three dolls that best reflect the rhymes in your storybook and place them in their proper setting in the house. When you think you have positioned the dolls correctly, slam your storybook against the table. Whoever completes the dollhouse first will receive a vial. If you have positioned your dolls correctly, the vial will contain the antidote, and you will be able to save yourself from the poison in your veins. However, if you get it wrong, the vial will contain another dose of poison, and you will die immediately after you drink it. You have thirty minutes to complete this puzzle before the poison takes effect’.”

They both sighed. Here we go again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tricked into drinking poison?! Seriously?!
> 
> Man, Tim and Matt aren't having a good time, and in a room with some seriously creepy dolls to boot. I will post another chapter tomorrow, even though I will be on vacation, and you'll get to see how Tim and Matt handle the final death challenge to find the doll for Madison. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	8. CHAPTER SEVEN: DOLLS AND POSION

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> Yes, I am on my vacation, but I am posting this chapter as I promised I would. Time to see who will win the final death challenge. Will it be Tim or will it be Matt? Onward!

**CHAPTER SEVEN: DOLLS AND POSION**

*****

Although Matt was tempted to just not bother with the challenge and let the poison kill him, he knew that Tim wasn’t going to go down without a fight, and so he turned the hourglass over. “Thirty minutes start _now_.” He went to one of the dollhouses and picked up the book, reading the first rhyme.

_Little General Monk_  
 _Sat upon a trunk_  
 _Eating a crust of bread;_  
 _There fell a hot coal_  
 _And burnt into his clothes a hole,_  
 _Now little General Monk is dead._  
 _Keep always from the fire,_  
 _If it catch your attire_  
 _You too, like General Monk, will be dead_ _._

“Seriously?” he wondered and looked at the dolls on his side of the room. He wasn’t entirely sure which doll looked like a burnt monk, so he went to the next rhyme.

_I married my wife on Sunday,_   
_Beat her well on Monday,_   
_Bad was she on Tuesday,_   
_Middling was she on Wednesday,_   
_Worse was she on Thursday,_   
_Dead was she on Friday;_   
_Glad was I on Saturday night_   
_To bury my wife on Sunday._

"What the hell…?” he muttered. Deciding that he wasted enough time, he grabbed a doll and went to work.

*****

When Tim picked up the storybook next to his dollhouse, he opened it and the first rhyme was a familiar one that nearly everyone in America was familiar with, especially since it was apparently based on a true event.

_Lizzie Borden took an axe_   
_And gave her mother forty whacks,_   
_And when she saw what she had done,_ _  
__She gave her father forty-one_ _._

Tim stopped reading and made a face, but he grabbed two dolls that were covered with blood, male and female, and he put them in the proper spot in the dollhouse, along with a second female doll that was armed with an axe. Once he was done, he read the next rhyme.

_Old Father Longlegs_   
_Can't say his prayers:_   
_Take him by the left leg_   
_And throw him down the stairs._   
_And when he's at the bottom,_   
_Before he long has lain,_   
_Take him by the right leg_ _  
__And throw him up again_ _._

Tim spotted a male doll that had _very_ long legs, so he grabbed the doll by the left leg, and stuffed him down the small staircase in the dollhouse. Once the doll was at the bottom, he grabbed it by the right leg, and he stuffed back up the stairwell again.

“Yo," Matt said. "Where did you put your first thing?”

“Don't worry about it, dude,” Tim said, focusing on the dolls in front of him.

*****

Matt had managed to solve two of the rhymes so far, but that first one was still tripping him up, and they only had fifteen minutes left. He’d checked the dolls on his side of the room several times, but he still wasn’t finding the right one for the General Monk. He glanced over at the dolls that were on Tim’s side of the room, and he got an idea while Tim solved another rhyme.

“Are these all, like, community dolls?" he wondered.

"I'm not sure," Tim replied and picked up the note. "Let's see…" As he reread the note, Matt snuck over to his side of the room and grabbed a few dolls. "I dunno… No. Search your side of the room."

"Goddamn it."

Tim glared at Matt. "Put my dolls _down,_ dude!” _‘And I_ can’t _believe that I just said that!’_ he thought, returning his attention to his dollhouse.

Reluctantly, Matt put the dolls he’d grabbed back down, and he went back to his side of the room, where he _finally_ found a brunt doll. “General Monk is dead." He picked it up gently, studying it like a tarnished work of art. "Keep always from the fire, if it catch your attire, you, too…" He frowned. "Where do I _put_ him, though?”

*****

There was ten minutes left on the timer, and both Tim and Matt were certain that they were getting close, but they weren’t entirely sure, and Tim was _really_ doubting himself. Every time he thought he had it right, he straightened up, but then he would pause, think for a moment, and then duck back down behind his dollhouse.

“I don't know if these are the daughters," Tim fretted, fidgeting with the scene in front of him. "Is that it?”

“I think I have what I need," Matt said, glancing at his friend. "How close are you?"

"I feel like I'm on the last one, but I could be-"

"I feel like I'm on the last one, too…you wanna help each other with these?” Matt asked, holding up two dolls. “Like, y'know, some Romeo and Juliet type thing?"

_‘I wish.’_ Tim laughed. "I don't think we can do that."

"All right." Matt shrugged. "It was a thought." Then, after an uneasy pause, "I think I've got mine right. I really do."

"You gotta be missing something,” Tim said, frowning. “ _I'm_ missing something."

"I think I got it." Matt took off, racing toward the table, storybook in hand.

"No!" Tim sprinted after him. "I think _I_ got it!"

Too late. Matt got there first, and he slammed his book against the table, and a drawer opened right next to him. Inside was a small vial of vomit-green liquid. He picked it up, uncorked it and turned to face his friend. "Dude…"

Tim was eying the vial suspiciously. “If you’re wrong, you die!” he warned him.

”I think…” Matt smiled sadly. “I’m almost positive I’m right. I’m sorry if it’s you, but…” He then shrugged and he drank the liquid. Seconds later, he was trying to cough it back up, but it was already burning his throat as it went down. He staggered forward, knocking the dollhouse over, and then he fell backwards onto the doll-covered couch behind him, still choking and coughing.

Tim stared in horror as his friend convulsed several times before falling still. “Yes!” he cheered and then sighed, running a hand over his face. “Omigod.” He did ask his friend if he was ok, but he didn’t get a response, which didn’t surprise him.

Just then, another note was slid under the door. “Oh!” Tim ran around the tables and snatched it up. “‘The antidote is attached to the back of the drawer’,” he read and he went back to the table, pulling the drawer out the rest of the way, and sure enough, there was a second vial. He removed it and held it up, seeing that the vial was filled with a yellowish liquid.

Tim drank the antidote and he was relieved when nothing bad happen to him. "Ah," he sighed, shutting his eyes for a moment. "Yes."

_Thump!_

"What was that?” Tim peered under the table, where he found a lovely doll with golden hair, a red dress and big blue eyes, and it looked out of place in this frightening sea of disfigured, dismembered ghoul-dolls. _‘This must be the doll that the mermaid was talking about.’_

He picked it up, glanced at his dead friend, took a deep breath while snatching up one of the dolls that’d fallen out of the tipped-over dollhouse, and he ran out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP, Matt. I'm sad that he died, but he did kinda bring it on himself with the way he was acting. Still, what a way to go.
> 
> Ok, I'm going to enjoy my vacation and when I get back on Monday, I will post the final chapter for this episode. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	9. CHAPTER EIGHT: BITTERSWEET ENDING

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> Yes, I'm back from my vacation and it's time to wrap up this episode. Onward!

**CHAPTER EIGHT: BITTERSWEET ENDING**

*****

When the group heard footsteps on the stairs, they watched with anticipation, waiting to see who would come down the stairs, and when Tim entered the room with the doll, they all cheered, thrilled to see him alive.

“What happened?" Joey asked.

"Timothy,” Eva said eagerly. "Tell us everything.”

Tim sat down in a chair and showed them the burnt-looking doll he’d picked up. “We went in there, and they poisoned us both, and…" He shrugged. "I got the antidote. And _this_ is the doll that we need for the mermaid lady's little girl.” And he showed them the lovely doll.

Joey stood up, relieved that they had the doll, and was only mildly sad that Matt was dead. “Well, let's go give it to her, guys. Come on. Let's go.”

*****

Going up to the second floor, they entered the room and then the bathroom, where Madison was still chained up, and she was watching them eagerly.

“We got your doll,” Tim said, handing it to a sobbing Madison. She took it, cuddled it close to her chest, and she faded away.

Joey couldn’t help but smile. "She can be free now." As traumatizing as tonight had been, the thought of Madison was now reunited with her daughter brought a glimmer of light to all of them.

"Now what?" Tim asked.

Eva shrugged. "I guess we just find the next owner.”

“How about we give our friends here a chance to dry off and get their clothes back on?” Tim suggested.

Agreeing with that suggestion, they parted ways, especially so that Joey, Dawn, Lele, and Benny could get their clothes back from Arthur and Sarah.

*****

After getting her clothes back from the maid, Lele duck into the nearest bathroom, where she dressed herself, relieved that the jewelry she’d _borrowed_ earlier that night was still in the pockets of her coat, and after she put on her pearl necklaces, she decided to style her blonde hair into a single braid instead of trying to put it in a bun again.

_‘I got a new house," he said. "It's amazing," he said. "Come to this stupid dinner party, it'll be fun," he said. I shouldn't have listened,’_ she thought sourly. _‘_ _I should've stayed home. I had a bunch of videos to film anyway. Now seven people are dead, I'm stuck in a horror movie, and I hate every damn second of it._ _’_

Once she was ready as she ever would be, Lele turned to leave when she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She spun around, but she couldn’t see anything in the bathroom that hadn’t been there when she first entered.

Deciding that it was just her imagination, she hurried out of the bathroom, leaving behind the towels she’d used to dry herself off with.

*****

Benny was in one of the upstairs bedrooms and had finished getting dressed, having replaced the wet shirt with a fresh one provided by Arthur, and he did what he could to finish drying his hair with the towel. _‘Two owners down and three to go,’_ he thought, glancing at his reflection in the mirror before folding and setting the towel on the bed.

He knew that they were almost free of the evil house, and he hoped that no one else would have to die before the long night was over. He then left the bedroom to rejoin his friends.

*****

Upstairs in the guest room she’d been staying in, Dawn finished getting back into her dress, but she chose not to bother with the headband, the jewelry, or even the gloves this time around. Honestly, she hoped that she didn’t have to come back to this room ever again after tonight.

_‘Just three more owners to find and help,’_ Dawn thought as she finished drying her hair the best she could with the towel, _‘and then we’re_ outta _here.’_ She felt a sudden chill go down her spine and she spun around, taking in the room with a wary look. She was certain that she was being watched, a feeling she’d felt before, and now it was stronger then ever. _‘It’s that darn demon.’_

Dawn jumped when there was a knock on the door and Joey poked his head into the room. “Hey, you ready?” he asked, and then he entered when he saw that she had a spooked expression on her face. “You ok, Donny?”

“I will be once we’re out of this house,” Dawn answered, taking a deep breath as he took her hand. “Coming here in the first place was a _really_ bad idea, Joey.”

“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” Joey admitted, giving her a quick hug. “Come on, we still got three owners left to find and help. Once we’ve done that, we can do the ritual again, and then we can _finally_ get back to 2016.”

Dawn gave him a weak smile and nodded. “Yeah, once we’ve helped the remaining owners and do the ritual, we can go home,” she agreed.

Joey smiled, too, and they left the bedroom together to regroup with their surviving friends.

To Be Continued…

*****

_I have so many, so many regrets._

_So many lies, so many broken ties._

_I wish for my old life._

_Wish I could fix my strike._

_Cause no one truly escapes the night._

_Oh, won't you help me escape the night._

_Oh baby help me escape the night._

_Escape the night._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Madison is freed! Just three more owners to go, and then they are outta there…I hope. I will try to update tomorrow, but that depends on whether I end up babysitting my nephews, and if I do end up babysitting, then I will start the next episode on Wednesday. Bye for now! R&R everyone!

**Author's Note:**

> Yikes! I feel more sorry for Madison then for her jerk of a husband. Anyway, I will see you on Wednesday with the next chapter. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


End file.
